#you'd have to be a blind man from texas not to see that the boy is queer

[asweetprologue]

announcing that jaskier is bi as if that isn't the most obvious fact on the planet

[takadasaiko]

Houseguest: Chapter One

FFN II AO3

Summary: Two months after the battle of New York, Tony gets a surprise visit from Steve Rogers at his home in Malibu. Still uncertain exactly what brought him there in the first place, the two not-quite-friends find themselves in the middle of an increasingly dangerous mission to recover stolen alien tech.

Chapter One: The Surprise Visitor

It was all planned out. The reservations had been made, he'd had JARVIS set three alarms - including one that gave him a ten second warning that his systems would be shut down and all unsaved designs would be lost - to make sure that he was out of the workshop in time, and he was showered and ready with a few minutes to spare. He was not going to mess this up. He didn't dare mess this up.

Tony ran a hand back through his dark hair to smooth a few strands into place and pulled in a deep breath, going over everything again. Pep had had a five-thirty phone call with the Board in New York, but she'd promised to keep it under an hour when he'd told her their dinner reservations were set for seven. Just after six she'd have time to change and they'd drive to her favourite restaurant on the beach. It had to be perfect.

"Miss Potts has arrived," JARVIS announced as Tony snapped his watch into place. "She is not alone."

That stopped him in his tracks. "What do you mean not alone?" he demanded, but it was Pepper's voice from downstairs that answered him, not the AI.

"Tony? Are you upstairs?" He darted over to the hall just outside of his room that overlooked the living room below, hearing the telltale signs of Pepper's heels against the marble floor and her voice drifting up, even if it didn't sound like she was talking to him. "Tony didn't mention that you were coming into town."

The inventor slammed to a stop at the voice that answered her. "Uh… he didn't know," came Steve Roger's awkward answer. "He mentioned I should look him up if I was in Malibu and -"

"Hey, Cap. You forgot how phones work?" Tony popped off, starting down the stairs. "I mean, I know there've been some upgrades since '45, but it's still a pretty basic concept." Pepper shot him a withering look as he circled down and he flashed her a grin. "Not that you don't look great in a business suit, but that's not what you're wearing to Nobu, is it?"

"My dress is out in the car, but you had a guest lingering at the front door when I got here. It's like he was afraid to knock. Couldn't imagine why."

"I'm interrupting something, aren't I?" Steve managed, looking more awkward by the moment. Good. Maybe he'd slink right back out the door and they could get on with date night.

"We had dinner plans, but that's alright," Pepper answered and damn it if she weren't reacting to the lost puppy look Rogers seemed to be wearing like a pro. "I didn't get a chance to meet you while we were working on the tower's redesign."

"And you can meet him tomorrow," Tony cut in as he came to join them on the ground floor. "I mean, you're not flying out tonight, right, Cap? And we have reservations…."

"Because we've never canceled reservations before? It's fine. We'll go later. You have a friend in town."

Friend was a stretch, but there was no arguing with her when she was like this. Well, no winning the argument, at any rate. He'd thought that she might have caught on to the fact that this wasn't just another dinner, but if she'd had an inkling of an idea it had gone out the window the moment she had seen their spangliest Avenger standing on Tony's doorstep. Great. The best laid plans did tend to blow up more spectacularly than just winging it.

"I don't want to intrude," the blond tried and Tony didn't miss the brief look his girlfriend gave him.

"Too late for that," he answered with a forced smile and for a second he thought Pepper might smack him for it. Instead she just shot him a warning look that only a blind man could have misinterpreted.

"I think I have some clothes to change into upstairs. Do you have any food in the house? I can cook dinner or we can order in -"

"I have liquor," he offered and boy did he need some about then.

"Okay, but I'm something a little more substantial to go with it," Pepper answered, but at least she was smiling while rolling her eyes at him. "I'll have them deliver a pizza."

"Perfect," he managed as he watched her start for the stairs, her ponytail bouncing with each step and pulled her phone from her purse to call it in.

Tony turn an accusing glare on the taller man. "Please tell you've got a damn good reason for being here. Bad guys chasing you? Aliens back? Something that makes it worth it that you just crashed a night I've been planning for weeks."

"I'm sorry, Tony. I should've called."

"Yeah."

"I'll go."

"Oh no. She wants you to stay, so if you go now I'll get an earful about forcing you out." He tilted his head a little, studying the man that his father had spent decades searching for and his entire childhood talking about. He didn't look afraid or even worried. More embarrassed than anything, and Tony reached up to massage some of the tension from the bridge of his nose. "It's been two months since New York. Last I heard you took a motorcycle out and nobody's heard from you since. You drive clear across the country?"

"I did, actually."

"So what? Just need a place to crash when you hit the West Coast?"

"No, nothing like that. I'll get a motel or something. I just… I wanted to…."

"Pizza's on its way," Pepper called as she started back down the stairs, now dressed in a pair of jeans and one of Tony's AC/DC t-shirts. "Captain Rogers, you strike me as more of a beer than a wine man."

"That'd be great, thank you," he answered politely. "And Steve's fine, Miss Potts."

"Then I'm going to insist on Pepper." Then she was gone again, descending downstairs to the wine cellar below Tony's workshop.

Tony turned back to Cap. "How'd you find me, anyway? My address isn't exactly listed."

"Nick Fury."

"But he couldn't give you my phone number? Weird."

He turned up the stairs towards the kitchen, motioning for the taller man to follow and he heard him snort in response. "I'm sorry. I should have called. I just assumed you'd be holed up in your lab or something. I didn't even know you had a girlfriend, much less one that you would be -"

Tony turned, quirking a dark eyebrow. "One that I'd be what, Cap?"

"That you'd… I just didn't realize you were… in a …"

"Uh huh. Keep going. You're doing great." He offered a shit-eating grin and chuckled. "It's fine. Keep your reasons for all I care. The night's planned events are a bust now so we might as well make some new ones."

He opened the fridge and reached in, grabbing two beers as he did and went back for a bowl of limes as an afterthought. Hey. They weren't working and apparently they had no place to be. The least he could do was furnish the great Captain America with a hangover for crashing his night. Tequila worked nicely for that.

"Where all have you been to see in the last couple of months?" Pepper called from the living room.

Tony pressed one of the bottles into Cap's hand and breezed past him, the other man following until they reached the base of the stairs and Tony split off towards the bar. "I just made my way across the US. I really didn't travel as a kid and while I saw a few cities with the Army I never really got to enjoy them."

"That sounds amazing. Neither of us have been on a real vacation in…. years. Tony, what are you looking for?"

"Tequila." He could practically feel her quirk a questioning eyebrow from the living room. He found what he was looking for and snagged the bottle and glasses, starting back out. "I mean, in our defense, last time we tried we got attacked."

"You did what?" Rogers asked cautiously.

"He wouldn't have been able to get to you if you hadn't decided you wanted to play race car driver."

Tony made a face. "Yeah, because him showing up at the expo didn't happen right after."

Pepper flashed him a playful smile. "But that wasn't on vacation." She turned back to their drop-in guest. "Sorry. You were saying?"

Cap was watching them like he was trying to decide if they'd lost their minds or if this was supposed to be normal for them. Tony was fine with letting him guess. As Pepper kept the conversation going he busied himself with three generous glasses of tequila, salting the rims and handing them out.

"Oh that's way too much," Pepper argues.

"It's fine. When's your first meeting?"

"Ten."

"It's fine. Cheers. To Cap's impromptu visit." He lifted his glass, flashing her his most innocent smile. He waited until the other two knocked against his, the clink echoing. He tilted it back and stuck a lime in his mouth. A shudder ran through him. Okay. Wow. It'd been a while since he'd done that.

They chatted, Rogers telling them where he'd been and what he'd seen. He'd gone down the East Coast first, cut across Louisiana into Texas, and then made his way to Southern California from there. He still wanted to make it up to Washington State and back around. Chicago was on his list, he knew. Minneapolis. Detroit. As long as there were no major catastrophes that had them all coming back together, he thought he had time. He didn't say anything about Tony's invitation that he'd extended to all of the Avengers. Not that any of them really had. It had been a stupid idea anyway. An expensive one too, with the living quarters that he'd designed for each of them. Ah well. At least he and Pepper had a place to stay when they were in New York.

Pepper leaned against him a little more as the conversation continued, her long day mixing with the alcohol, and Tony wrapped an arm around her on the couch. She nestled into his shoulder and he played with strands of strawberry blonde hair in a way he knew she liked. He lifted his newly refilled glass to his lips with his free hand. "Where's Peggy Carter these days?"

Tony couldn't miss the way that Cap stiffened at the question. "I'm not… why?"

"You guys were a thing, right?"

"How do you….? Is that in a file somewhere?"

Tony snorted louder than he meant to at that and mumbled apologies to his snoozing girlfriend before dark eyes flickered back up to meet blue. "I knew her when I was younger. Dad worked with he - on SHIELD, I guess, not that he ever told me that - and I met her a few times. Haven't seen her in years, but I thought…"

"She moved back to England," Rogers said softly. "That's what her file said anyway."

"Those things are always outta date. If you want I can track her down for you. Might be nice to say —"

"No."

The word was sharp enough that Tony stiffened at it. Cap winced. "Sorry. No, thank you. That's really not necessary."

"Okay then." The room went quiet and Tony shifted Pepper gently so that they'd both be a little more comfortable. She inched the rest of the way down so that her head rested on the couch next to him, freeing him up to move a little. He glanced over to the bottle that they'd already put a dent in that night and grabbed for it. If he was feeling the affects, surely Cap was. He hadn't been sure the man even drank until that night.

"Everyone's gone."

Tony pauses mid-reach. "Gone?"

"My whole unit. Your dad. Peggy's alive, but she has a family and I…. I'm just part of a past she moved on from."

Tony chewed on his lower lip before refilling his glass and leaning over to refill Rogers' as well. They were both going to need it. "So what are you doing here? I mean, I wasn't exactly your favourite of our little makeshift team of superheroes."

He watched blond brows draw together thoughtfully and he took a long sip from his glass. "Your dad took some getting used to. He was…. brash. Arrogant. Obnoxious. But when push came to shove he was there when you needed him. I wouldn't trust another pilot back in the war. I thought I saw….." His lips twitched downward. "I guess I missed him, but he's been gone for years now." Blue eyes finally flickered to meet brown. "You're here though."

And just like that Tony's mood plummeted. "Always nice to be a fill in for a dead man," he snapped quietly.

"That's not —"

Tony dragged in a breath and tilted the glass back. He couldn't feel his lips anymore. Scratch that. He couldn't feel his face. "Listen, I should get her upstairs to bed," he managed, motioning at the still-sleeping Pepper.

"Oh. Maybe I should get going then."

"Nah. I have like… six guest rooms. Pick one. There's a gym on this floor if you want. You saw where the kitchen is. Despite what Pep says, it's usually pretty well stocked. If you need to know where something is, just ask JARVIS. G'night."

"Tony, if I offended you somehow…."

"Why would I be offended, Cap? We're not friends. You were pals with my old man. I don't mind putting you up for the night."

He ignored the kicked puppy look the other man was giving him as he roused Pepper just enough to get her on her feet, teasing her the whole way about how the tables had turned and what a bad influence he'd been on her. She leaned into him as they made their way up the stairs to his bedroom and told him she loved him. Well. At least the night wasn't a total bust. That made it alright.

                                          ______________________

TBC

Notes: So begins another crazy story. One that I did not actually plan to write, mind you, but the boys wouldn't leave me alone until I did. I do love shoving them in a room together and making them play nice.

Next time: A hungover Tony gets news of a breakin at a Stark Industries facility.